Money held in banks by largest charities increases to £16.2bn over the past year, report finds

The latest figures, from the charity data website Charity Financials, are based on data from the largest 5,000 UK charities by income, expenditure or net assets

The amount of money held in banks by the UK’s largest charities has increased by £300m over the past year to a total £16.2bn, according to a new report on charities and the banking sector.

The latest Charity Banking Spotlight, which is produced by the charity data website Charity Financials and based on the top 5,000 charities in terms of income, expenditure or net assets, says the most recent figure is still below the peak of £16.8bn in 2012, but almost £600m more than in 2014.

The report identifies the Charities Aid Foundation as having the most cash in hand or at the bank, with the charity having £768.8m.

CAF, which runs its own bank, had the most borrowing with £1bn – about £700m more than the charity in second place, Aston Student Villages.

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The Church Commissioners of England had the greatest change in cash levels over the past year, with a £49.1m increase to a total of £440.7m, the report says.

More than half of the charities surveyed have been with their bank for more than a decade, the report says, and HSBC saw the biggest fall in cash levels, with a drop of £287m.

Barclays, which also sponsored the report, was the most popular bank among the top 5,000 charities, and also is the bank of choice for a third of the top 100 charities in terms of income, the report says.

But NatWest holds the most cash on behalf of charities, with £3.2bn compared with Barclays’ £3.1bn, the report says.

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National Lottery good-cause money fell by £293.5m last year

Declining figures for the year to March 31 2017 have prompted the operator Camelot to carry out a review

The amount of money raised for good causes by the National Lottery in the year to March 31 2017 fell by £293.5m on the year before, according to the latest figures.

The lottery operator Camelot blamed a fall in sales but warned that it expected them to fall further this year and has launched a review in a bid to boost player interest.

Figures from the Gambling Commission show the total amount of money given to the National Lottery Distribution Fund in the 2016/17 financial year was £1.63bn, a fall of 15 per cent on the £1.93bn handed over in 2015/16.

In the final quarter of 2016/17 (January to March 2017), £428.4m was raised, £135.1m (24 per cent) lower than in the same period the year before. A note accompanying the statistics said there had been a record performance in that quarter of 2015/16 because of a Lotto rollover peak in January.

In a statement this week, Camelot said ticket sales in 2016/17 were 8.8 per cent lower than in the year before, having fallen from 2015/16’s record-breaking total of £7.6bn to £6.9bn.

The lottery operator said it had launched a strategic review to find out how to boost player interest.

Although 2016/17 was still the fourth-best sales performance since the National Lottery began in 1994, Camelot said the review would focus on four key areas: commercial plans to boost sales performance, investment in technology and systems, the existing business structure and long-term succession.

The review will be led by Nigel Railton, chief executive of Camelot Global, who took over Camelot’s UK operations when Andy Duncan, the UK chief executive, stepped down in April.

Jo Taylor, chair of Camelot, said: “Achieving the fourth-highest level of sales ever, creating a record number of lottery millionaires and raising more than £30m every week for good causes is no mean feat.

“However, sales in 2016/17 fell well short of where we’d like them to be, and that’s largely down to a disappointing year for draw-based games and Lotto in particular.”

She said there was work to be done to re-engage players and address the performance of draw-based games, which would be a key focus for the review.

But she said: “Given the current climate of economic uncertainty and increasing competition from the gambling sector, we expect 2017/18 to be equally if not more challenging for the National Lottery.

“It will therefore take time to turn things around and I anticipate a further sales decline this year.”

But she said she was confident the review would enable the company to put the business on the best possible footing to get back into growth.

In a statement, Camelot said it would publish an update on the review when it announced its half-year sales later in the year.

The price of a ticket for the main Lotto game was increased from £1 to £2 in October 2013.

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